Nursing Ethics Resources

"Nursing ethics is: (a) the study of the historical and contemporary foundations of professional nursing action in order to understand what is the 'good' nursing provides for individuals and society; (b) an analysis of potential or actual professional nursing actions (individual or disciplinary) for the ability of these to facilitate the 'good' proposed, and (c) a critique of both (a) and (b) with regard to the promotion of this 'good'."[Grace, 2000].

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Reading Suggestions

Case Studies in Nursing Ethics-Presents basic ethical principles and specific guidance for applying these principles in nursing practice, through analysis of over 150 actual ethical case study conflicts that have occurred in the nursing practice. Each case study allows readers to develop their own approaches to the resolution of ethical conflict and to reflect on how the traditions of ethical thought and professional guidelines apply to the situation.
Informed Consent: Legal Theory and Clinical Practice-Few issues affecting the therapeutic professions are as much discussed and as little understood as informed consent. This book is the first reference work to provide a concise overview of informed consent with particular emphasis on the practical issues facing professionals.
Nursing Ethics-Nursing Ethics takes a practical approach to this complex subject and relates each topic to the working environment.
Resolving Ethical Dilemmas: A Guide for Clinicians- Presents practical solutions to ethical dilemmas encountered in clinical practice. Discusses issues such as active euthanasia, notification of HIV test results, managed care, futile interventions, guidelines for clinical studies, the doctor-patient relationship, and organ transplantation. Includes case studies.
The Journal of Clinical Ethics-The Journal of Clinical Ethics is written for
and by physicians, nurses, attorneys, clergy, ethicists, and others whose decisions directly affect patients.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down- The story of Lia Lee, an epileptic child born to a Hmong family who immigrated to the U.S. After a series of unfortunate events that stemmed from cultural clashes between the hospital and the Lee family, Lia eventually ended up brain dead in a comatose state. The lack of communication between the doctors and the Lee family, in addition to their inability to understand each other, linguistically and culturally, made cooperation impossible, and eventually ended up with devastating results.

Interactive Ethics Tutorials

AMA Virtual Mentor-Interactive forum for analysis and discussion of
ethical and professional issues that medical students encounter during
their educational training. The Virtual Mentor content areas are designed
to inform, awaken, and energize students to engage in a learning dialogue with experts in medicine, law, and bioethics.
Canada Bioethics Curricula-The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons
of Canada provide 10 medical ethics teaching modules each for 1) Medicine, 2) Obstetrics and Gynecology, 3)Psychiatry, and 4) Surgery.
Informed Consent-These interactive modules provide an overview of informed consent, teach the details of obtaining patient consent, and a self test.
Integrated Medical Curriculum- Interactive subscription based courses in basic clinical skills, anatomy, physiology and medical ethics. Try the free demo case study in Discontinuance of Life Support.
Principles of Medical Ethics-Defines and describes the four commonly accepted principles of health care ethics and provides case studies for each. [University of Washington School of Medicine]

Selected Reviewed Sites and Resources
This list of resources is highly selective and does not include every web site related to these topics. If you would like to add a resource click here.

Abstracts of Clinical Nursing Ethics Research Projects- Interesting and readable abstracts of recent studies about a variety of ethical issues in nursing practice. [Boston College School of Nursing]
Advanced Directives-Advance Directives provide guidance for medical decision to made after the person becomes incapacitated. This site explains Advance Directives and provides links to resources for additional study. [University of Buffalo]
Aging and Ethical Issues Bibliography- Contains works on general aging, health policy, death & dying, hospice, nursing care, patient rights, and case studies. [University of Vermont].
ANA Center for Ethics and Human Rights- Addresses professional, ethical and human rights challenges and strives to improve the quality of care rendered to patients and their families. On site bibliographies for most widely sought nursing ethics issues are very helpful.
Bioethics Resources on the Web-A broad collection of annotated web links to resources that provide background information and various positions on issues in bioethics. [National Institutes of Health]
Boston University's Patient Rights Program-News and general information about the rights of patients and research subjects, as well as links to public agencies and non-profit organizations with specialized information.
Cultural Diversity in Decisionmaking- [About care at the end of life]. A study of dying, decisionmaking, and care at the end of life within the context of an increasingly diverse U.S. population.
Doctor Assisted Suicide- A guide to web sites and literature presenting different points of view and media coverage of Physician Assisted Suicide.
Ethics in Medicine-Bioethics Topics- Each topic begins with an overview and a series of commonly asked questions. In addition, there are several case-based scenarios with discussions linked to each topic. Links to additional readings and related websites are included at the end of topic. [Univ. of Washington School of Medicine]
Guidelines on Forgoing Life-Sustaining Medical Treatment for Children- American Academy of Pediatrics policy and rationale for situations in which limiting or stopping interventions that may prolong the life of pediatric patients are considered ethical.
Innovations in End-of-Life Care- International journal and web forum related to promising practices and approaches to end of life and palliative care. Easy access to current and past journals upon completing a free registration.
Johns Hopkins University Bioethics Institute- Extensive information about medical privacy issues, genetics and public policy, cell engineering, international research ethics, and bioethics in the news.
Library & Information Services Gateway- Search National Reference Center For Bioethics Literature, the NLM Databases, and other databases on the web for information about ethics and human genomes from this gateway. [Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown].
Nursing Ethics Canada- Extensive links, articles and current news related
to Canadian and international nursing specific ethics resources.
Pain Medicine and Palliative Care- Information on pain and palliative care, education, research, and clinical trials, as well as hospice and end of life care. [Beth Israel Medical Center]
Race, HealthCare and The Law- Explores the role of the law in improving the health status of people-of-color and to assure access to quality health care. Includes statutes, cases, law review articles, essays, and other documents. [University of Dayton School of Law]
Resources on Nonconsensual Human Experimentation- Links to resources
on human experimentation including the Tuskegee Experiment, Experiments by Nazi doctors, Atomic Energy Commission experiments, and general human experimentation resources. Some pages contain original content or uniquely arranged excerpts from other sources.
Skepticism in Nursing- A Yahoo discussion group that focuses on quackery, ethics of unproven therapies, the importance of critical thinking in nursing, and the development of evidence-based nursing. [Free Membership]
Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics- The nation's first bioethics center devoted to engaging the sciences, humanities, law and religious faiths in the exploration of the core moral issues which underlie research and medical treatment of African Americans and other underserved people.

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